Towards stable solar water-splitting devices: elucidating the degradation kinetics in metal oxides-based photoelectrochemical devices

迈向稳定的太阳能水分解装置：阐明基于金属氧化物的光电化学装置的降解动力学

• 批准号: EP/X027430/1
• 负责人: James Durrant
• 金额: $ 24.26万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX027430%2F1
• 关键词: Towards; stable; solar; water; splitting

Advanced economies, including European Union, have recently adopted or will soon announce hydrogen (H2) strategies targeting the broader goal of 'sector integration'. These strategies present a clear shift in global politics towards a net-zero approach in which H2 will play a major role to help decarbonize hard-to-electrify sectors. At present, however, industrial H2 is mainly produced by steam reforming of methane, which requires substantial hydrocarbon inputs and generates CO2 emissions. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices constitute one of the most challenging yet promising H2 production technologies, and can potentially achieve sustainable development of H2 energy in the future. However, until now, the investigation of environmentally friendly PEC systems for H2 production has been mainly focused on improving the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency while their stability and in particular the causes behind degradation, are less investigated. However, as scientists and engineers, it is important to develop new technologies in which the overall performances are taken into account, to pave the way for their commercial application. In RainDrop I tackle this issue, aiming to investigate the underlying causes of degradations of state-of-the-art metal oxides photoelectrodes and of their passivation layers, using a holistic approach that foresees the use of novel advanced methods based on in-situ and operando techniques. A wide range of spectroscopic and surface probe techniques will be used to develop a deeper understanding of the interplay between kinetics and energetics of the devices, and in particular how the dynamics and degradation processes are reciprocally influenced. Through iterative design the key factors of the degradation mechanisms will be identified and general materials design guidelines will be proposed to improve the stability of MOx-based PEC systems. Ultimately, an optimized MOx-PEC device will be assembled for obtaining a stable solar H2 generation.

包括欧盟在内的发达经济体最近已经采取或即将宣布氢（H2）战略，目标是实现更广泛的“行业一体化”目标。这些战略代表了全球政治向净零方法的明显转变，其中H2将在帮助难以碳化的行业脱碳方面发挥重要作用。然而，目前，工业H2主要通过甲烷的蒸汽重整生产，这需要大量的烃输入并产生CO2排放。光电化学（PEC）装置是最具挑战性和最有前途的制氢技术之一，并有可能在未来实现氢气能源的可持续发展。然而，到目前为止，对用于H2生产的环境友好PEC系统的研究主要集中在提高太阳能制氢（STH）效率，而对其稳定性，特别是降解背后的原因的研究较少。然而，作为科学家和工程师，重要的是开发新技术，其中考虑到整体性能，为其商业应用铺平道路。在RainDrop中，我解决了这个问题，旨在调查最先进的金属氧化物光电极及其钝化层退化的根本原因，使用整体方法，预见使用基于原位和操作技术的新型先进方法。广泛的光谱和表面探针技术将被用来开发动力学和能量的设备之间的相互作用的更深入的理解，特别是如何动态和降解过程的影响。通过迭代设计的降解机制的关键因素将被识别和一般材料设计准则将被提出，以提高MOx基PEC系统的稳定性。最终，将组装优化的MOx-PEC装置，以获得稳定的太阳能H2发电。